5 February 2011 | NewScientist | 45

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Laugh at the futureAn Optimist’s Tour of the Future by Mark Stevenson, Avery, $26

Reviewed by Sam Kean

HUMOUR often cuts something down – it slights or disparages. But while Mark Stevenson finds plenty to chuckle over in An

Optimist’s Tour of the Future, he never succumbs to cynicism about what might be in store. Jokes pop up in the book as regularly as in any stand-up set, and each one only adds to the argument that science will (probably) improve our lives in every way.

Stevenson surveys a huge number of research fields – synthetic biology, nanotech, robotics and alternative energy to name just a few – in labs on

End of daysWhat would have happened if Einstein had discovered the theory of everything?

The Omega Theory by Mark Alpert, Touchstone, $24.99

Reviewed by Amanda Gefter

WHAT if Einstein had discovered the “theory of everything” but decided to bury the ultimate equations forever, having seen the atomic

horrors wrought by his earlier discoveries? This intriguing premise opens Mark Alpert’s new novel The Omega Theory, the sequel to his debut physics thriller, The Final Theory.

In reality, of course, Einstein was missing fundamental pieces of the cosmic puzzle, including two forces of nature (the strong and weak nuclear forces) that were discovered after his death – but nevertheless it is a fun counterfactual idea.

As The Omega Theory opens, Einstein’s great-great-grandson,

an autistic teenager named Michael, has been kidnapped by religious zealots who believe they can use the lost equations etched into Michael’s remarkable memory to bring on the end of days and their entrance to God’s eternal kingdom.

Michael’s adoptive parents, the hapless science historian David Swift and his quantum physicist wife Monique, both of whom starred in Alpert’s earlier novel, must figure out the nature of reality to rescue Michael and save the universe. It’s a mission that takes them from quantum computing labs to the tunnels beneath Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall in Israel, and from secret Kabbalist meeting grounds to army bases on the borders of Iran.

Readers who enjoy Dan Brown’s academic mystery thrillers will find The Omega Theory similarly entertaining. But like a Dan Brown novel, this book has all the flaws of formulaic fiction: it is entirely

nearly every continent, and weaves the most promising aspects of each into one grand vision.

The odds that Stevenson will nail every prediction he makes seem pretty low. After all, how many people still believe that genomics will cure all human diseases in a flash? Even so, the book is a refreshing reminder that the future will always belong to the optimists.

Don’t give me griefThe Truth About Grief: The myth of its five stages and the new science of loss by Ruth Davis Konigsberg, Simon & Schuster, $26

Reviewed by Samantha Murphy

IN THIS potentially polarising book, Ruth Davis Konigsberg boldly confronts the US’s culture of grieving. Presenting recent

research to combat antiquated beliefs, The Truth About Grief seeks to free grievers from prescriptive mourning and to de-stigmatise resilience: it is OK to be OK.

In Konigsberg’s firing line are some of psychology’s most esteemed figures. Notably, she systematically disputes Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s popular theory of the five stages of grief by criticising their meagre empirical origins and even whether they were created by Kubler-Ross at all. Other targets include people and businesses that profit from “teaching” people how to cope with loss.

For grievers and clinicians, Konigsberg carries a message of empowerment and hope. For those in the business of death and mourning, the book may make you squirm. But whichever side of the divide you lie on, readers will find The Truth About Grief a quick, thought-provoking read, worthy of the debate it will necessarily and inevitably cause.

plot-driven; has zero character development; employs stilted, expository dialogue to drive the plot; its pace is monotonously relentless; and it relies on every last cliché, short of a typical Hollywood love story sub-plot. Those who enjoy high-brow literature should steer clear.

Still, book poses an important ethical question: should scientists ever conceal the truth for fear of how it might be used? The book also paints an interesting portrait of the science-religion divide by taking aim at an unusual brand of zealot. Alpert’s bad guys, a religious cult dubbed “The True Believers”, don’t as you might expect shun science and logic in the name of blind faith. Rather, they study advanced physics in order to understand and, they hope, to manipulate God’s creation to cataclysmic ends. The Omega Theory is a fun read, while simultaneously reminding us that even the most abstract truths can have substantial consequences.u

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